Brandon Hagy of the U.S. shot a 7-under 65 at The Lakes Golf Club on Thursday to take the solo first round lead at the Cape Breton Celtic Classic presented by PC Financial.

Ron Patey

Hagy is playing the event on a sponsor’s exemption, and proved he was worth the selection. He carded seven birdies, an eagle and two bogeys to lead by one over fellow American Matt Harmon. The leader had a stretch where he went 9-under for nine holes.

Harmon, the current Order of Merit No. 4, put together a timely round that could see him move up the standings this week.

All four other members of The Five – Joel Dahmen, Tim Madigan, Brock Mackenzie and Josh Persons – were over par at The Lakes, leaving Harmon with a head start in hopes of making a move this weekend.

One shot behind Harmon was a group of four players at 5-under 67: West Vancouver’s Seann Harlingten, Daniel McCarthy of the U.S., Adam Long of the U.S. and Chris Williams of the U.S.

Wong searches for consistency as season’s end closes in

North Vancouver’s Eugene Wong continued what has been a solid 2014 season on Thursday, opening with a 4-under 68, the second best score of the morning wave. Though he’s been consistent with seven made cuts and five top-25s, the Wong said he’s looking for more consistency in putting four rounds together.

With two events to go, Wong finds himself in good position to be rewarded for his 2014 season at 16th on the Order of Merit.

In addition to The Five earning status on the Web.com Tour, the top 10 players at season’s end earn an exemption into the final stage of Web.com Tour Q-School, with the top 20 getting into the second stage.

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Ron Patey's career in the media profession spanned 21 years. His duties as special sections editor for Sun Media included writing about and photographing many subjects in the capital region. The topic he fell in love with the most was golf. During Ron's 11 years of covering the local scene for the paper's BackSwing section, he met many of the outstanding people who work in the local golf industry. His reports featured players and instructors, events and described courses for beginners and intermediate players everything from which club to use to what special deals were available. Contact Ron at yankflank@hotmail.com.